


You're back

by karlo1469



Category: Supernatural
Genre: 13x05 Coda, Destiel - Freeform, Friendship/Love, M/M, Sam's POV, Supernatural - Freeform, sam and cas is a bro-ship don't worry, this is good I promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-14
Updated: 2017-11-14
Packaged: 2019-02-02 07:30:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12722274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karlo1469/pseuds/karlo1469
Summary: 13x05 coda. They're driving when Dean's phone rings. The hope in his throat won't die. Castiel is alive.This is what I hope happens, what I think is realistic, and also what we haven't seen in the episode.





	You're back

He didn’t think he had ever been this tired before.

These last couple of days had been rough on them, to say the least, and it was clear to Sam that Dean wasn’t in a talkative mood and that this would be a quiet ride home, except for the music blaring from the stereo. He took one look over at his brother, sighed, and then laid down to get some sleep. They had a long ride home after all.

Sam wasn’t sure how long he had been asleep when he was jolted awake by Dean’s cellphone ringing between them. Dean barely glanced at it, before he answered. “Yeah?” he said. It was obvious his voice hadn’t been used in a while.

Sam looked at his brother, as the emotions flitted over his face. He hadn’t even been on the phone for a minute, before he looked over at Sam, eyes wide and an unreadable expression on his face.

Sam immediately straightened up.

“What?”

A phone call that could make Dean react like this could be a number of things, and Sam could do nothing but fear the worst until Dean told him.

Instead Dean looked out at the road again. He hadn’t said anything else for the duration of the phone call, and without answering the person on the other end or answering Sam, he hung up, put the phone back down between them, tightened his grip on the steering wheel and stepped on the gas.

“Who was that, Dean?” Sam tried again.

Dean still didn’t speak for another few minutes. It looked like he was having trouble saying anything. At last he looked over at Sam, and Sam could see that his eyes were wet, and what looked like a small smile was playing on the corner of his mouth.

“I didn’t…” Dean’s voice was choked with emotions, and he cleared his throat to start over.

“He was _dead_ , Sammy.” Dean shook his head, as though he was trying to shake the hope away that was also starting to blossom in Sam’s chest.

Dean looked over at him again, and this time it was plain just by looking at Dean’s face that what he was feeling wasn’t the same thing that Sam was feeling. “He was dead,” he whispered, as if repeating it would change the fact that they had spent so much energy and time grieving Castiel.

No more words were exchanged for the rest of the ride, but the excitement bubbling in Dean was unmistakable in the small room of the car. Sam was nervous, too, but also knew that they had to approach apprehensively.

They had been told that Castiel was dead, that this time he wouldn’t be coming back. It wouldn’t even come as a surprise to Sam if Dean had been praying to Chuck, because he had done that too, both for Cas, but also for hope that God was looking over their mom in the other world where she was trapped.

It didn’t make any sense if Cas was alive, but that didn’t stop the hope from rising high in his throat. He felt a little teary-eyed himself.

When they had proof that this was the real Castiel, and not someone pretending to be him, then they could find out why he was back and go back to the bunker. They deserved at least a week’s break after this, Sam thought.

It didn’t take more than 20 minutes before Dean was driving down a little road, the excitement very obvious on his face, and then he pulled to a stop. Out of the windshield Sam could see the blue light from a phone booth sign vaguely lighting up the figure standing beside it. The figure, the clothes and the hair looked like Cas.

Sam couldn’t stop blinking, trying to figure out if this was actually real.

Dean moved to get out of the car first, and Sam followed only a split second later. The car doors shutting rung out very loudly, way too loud for the silence of the street, but not loud enough to drown out the blood rushing in their heads.

It wasn’t hard to take the first steps towards the figure in front of them. Sam’s feet felt too heavy to move though, and Dean was already in front of the car when the person by the telephone booth decided to turn around.

No one moved as Castiel turned around. The moment his eyes met Dean’s it felt like there was a rip in time. Sam could feel the tension of the moment hanging heavy in the air. He couldn’t believe it. There was absolutely no doubt. This was Cas. _Castiel_ , their best friend, their brother, who they thought they would never see again, was alive and standing right in front of them. He couldn’t believe it.

The only sounds around them was the occasional car driving by on the busier road further away from them. No one moved. No one said anything.

Sam couldn’t take his eyes off of Cas, but Cas had barely acknowledged his presence with a glance, and Sam didn’t know if he was even allowed to make the first move towards him.

After what felt like 10 minutes, Dean finally closed his eyes, and Sam looked over at him. A tear was trickling down his chin, and as he closed his eyes and let out a deep breath, Sam thought that maybe this wasn’t even something he was supposed to see, something he was even allowed to see.

Cas took a step forward, just as Sam took a step backwards.

“Cas,” Dean choked out, his voice filled with all the emotion he was feeling. “Cas,” he repeated, and absentmindedly lifted his hand a little, as if to reach out for the guy.

“I’m here,” Cas said.

He took a few steps forward until he was standing right in front of Dean, a little too close as only they tended to do.

Sam felt excluded, but also knew that this moment wasn’t something he should intrude on. Dean and Cas had always had a special bond, and even if Sam loved Cas too, it wasn’t in the same way that Dean loved Cas, and he knew that. He had always known that, it just wasn’t until now that it really dawned on his just how different their relationships were.

He would get to say hello to his friend, even if that meant he had to wait for a little while. It might have always been Dean’s job to protect Sam, but Sam had made it his job a long time ago to make sure that Dean was happy, and if that meant his own heart clenching in his chest as he waited for his best friend to notice him too, then that was alright with him.

“I’m back, Dean.” Cas’ voice was rough and familiar. He lifted a hand as if he was going to touch Dean’s face, and then thought better of it and put a hand on Dean’s upper arm. From where Sam was standing he could clearly see Cas giving Dean’s arm a squeeze. “I’m back,” he repeated.

That was all it took for Dean to break down. A strangled sound escaped his throat and he took a step forward to bury his head in Cas’ neck, arms going around his back to hold him tightly against his own body. Cas’ own hands came up to grip Dean, and he gently started carding a hand through Dean’s hair.

A few minutes went by. Sam just stood on the other side of the car, staring at them, waiting for his brain to realize that this was actually real.

“God, I missed you,” he heard Dean say. Again, Dean sighed, and started to pull back from Cas. They now held each other at an arm's length, and Cas couldn’t stop smiling, whereas Dean was just staring at him with blatant love in his eyes.

A raindrop fell on Sam’s hand. He slowly went over to them, the sound of his footsteps attracting their attention, and Dean finally let his hands fall to his sides, but didn’t remove his gaze from the other man.

Sam didn’t know what he was supposed to say, so he just smiled, hoping that it didn’t look sad, but tried to convey how happy he was that Cas was back.

He hugged Cas, and with a hand to his shoulder told him, “we’re glad you’re here” because it was the truth.

Another few moments of staring went on, as Cas let that sink in, the fact that he was _wanted_ here and that he was loved, until Dean cleared his throat and with a movement of his head gestured to the car.

“Let’s go home,” he said.

Sam let Cas ride shotgun, and Sam should have feared for his life with how little time Dean spent looking at the road and instead looking at Castiel, but he didn’t care. He didn’t care if he died right there in that moment, because that was not what mattered right now.

Not even the ongoing rain outside of the car could dwell the happiness that they all felt right there in that moment.

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: i do not own anything and the story is not beta-read
> 
> also i hadn't watched the episode when i wrote this, but i had seen this scene and then i hope it's enough to make this a good story  
> hope you guys enjoy, leave kudos and comments  
> thank you  
> also love to you all <3


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